SPARP: a single pass antialiased rasterization processor

摘要

We present a rasterization processor architecture named SPARP (single-pass antialiased rasterization processor), which exploits antialiased rendering in a single pass. Our architecture is basically based on the A-buffer (Carpenter, Computer graphics 1985;19:69-78) algorithm. We have modified the A-buffer algorithm to enhance the efficiency of hardware implementation and quality of the image rendered, such as the data structure of pixel storage elements, the merging scheme of partial-coverage pixels, and the blending of partial-coverage or non-opaque pixels. For the scan conversion and generation of subpixel masks, we use the representation of edges that was proposed by Schilling (Computer graphics 1991;25:131-41). We represent partial-coverage pixels for a pixel location by a front-to-back sorted list as in the A-buffer and dynamically manage the list storage. We have devised a dynamic memory management scheme that extremely simplifies the memory managing overheads so that we can build it by hard-wired logic circuitry. In our architecture we can render an antialiased scene with the same rendering context of Z-buffer method. Depending on the scene complexity, proposed architecture requires rasterization time 1.4-1.7 times as much as a Z-buffer rasterizer does. The buffer memory requirements can vary depending on the scene complexity; the average storage requirement is 2.75 times that of the Z-buffer for our example scenes. Our architecture can be used with most rendering algorithms to produce high-quality antialiased images at the minimally increased rendering time and buff